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UPDATE: Tully’s Coffee on Alki closes ‘temporarily,’ mysteriously

ORIGINAL STORY, 1:17 PM: Thanks to everybody who has tipped us on this. We’ve been checking into the mysterious closure of Tully’s Coffee on Alki Beach since this “temporarily closed” sign went up yesterday afternoon:

Though the sign says they “look forward” to reopening, some who have contacted us are skeptical that will happen, given the recent travails of what’s left of the chain, and someone even put a memorial by the door with “RIP” and flowers, spotted when we went back today to check if it was still closed:

According to the city business-license database, the shop is owned by Global Baristas, as are other remaining Tully’s shops, bought by the group in 2013 after Tully’s itself filed for bankruptcy. Online court records show the state is seeking back taxes from Global Baristas, with a court filing dated this past Monday citing more than $180,000. And records list multiple “unlawful detainer” – potential eviction – filings since mid-October, most recently for a location in Bellevue. Three shops closed last fall, including one on Capitol Hill, where our friends at capitolhillseattle.cominvestigated extensively. But we haven’t yet found documents mentioning anything specific about this location (2676 Alki SW). We have a message out to the “media contact” listed on the Tully’s website. We’re also trying to find the Alki property’s owners; property records carry both the name of an accountant in Federal Way and the name of the former owner of the Taco Time that was on the site before it became a Tully’s shop in 2000. We’ll update if and when we find out more.

8:25 PM: We never did hear back from the company. But The Seattle Times inquired and reports tonight that a company memo says the stores closed because they were out of coffee. (Thanks to commenter David for spotting that.)

This is one of the few locations on Alki with mostly sunny outdoor seating (during happy hour), the other being Cactus, maybe Duke’s, but upstairs is not always open. El Chupacabra put up a permanent roof shading their new upstairs deck. Pegasus gave up their wrap around outdoor seating area which used to be our favorite place to catch the afternoon sun during the cooler nice days in spring and fall.

I would love to sit in the courtyard at this establishment and enjoy a draft beer and snacks in the afternoon sunshine. By the afternoon, though, I am done drinking caffeinated beverages for the day.

Sorry for the Tully’s fans, it is definitely a nice space, both inside and out.

Love the idea a good burrito place, but instead of a chain restaurant it would be nice to see a place that sells great burritos. I’m thinking something like Fogon on Capitol Hill or Gorditos from Greenwood.

I also feel for the employees. But seriously 4 coffee shops on Alki? (Starbucks, Tullys, Top Pot, Ampersand). Did we need 4 coffee shops? Maybe something “new”? How about as tapas (small bites) type place? Or a GOOD sub-shop.

The Tully’s in the International District is still open, but no pastries, napkins, etc. Barebones, looks like they are next. The barista did mention that the lawyer defending Stormy Daniels is the owner and he is busy with that. Seems farfetched, but ok… I love Tully’s, especially Alki – would be sad to see them go.

Can you really call Top Pot a coffee shop, thought of it more as a donut shop that serves coffee? And anyways hasn’t Tully’s been there longer than any of those “other” 2 coffee shops (TP and Ampersand) not quite sure how long SB has been there??? Either way I feel for the employees.

The shelves were bare this last week which was a telltale sign that they are going out of business in general. The building owner had let the space go to heck by not doing any maintenance, perhaps because they were not getting their rent paid.

Too bad as it was a good place to hang out.

There is no good coffee place to hang out on Alki besides Starbucks which is a bit too sterile for me.

Hopefully another coffee shop will take up the location and put it back to a nice place. Don’t need another food place on Alki, especially a Taco Time.

Thanks – sounds like it. Company spokesperson never returned our message so we had no access to that info, and the Times story was published hours after ours, which it links to. Doesn’t say WHY they are out of coffee, though…

It wasn’t just coffee – the Alki store was running out of just about everything because it wasn’t restocked. Likely because no one would sell them anything anymore because they were unable to pay. Unfortunately there is no way back to business for Tullys unless some company buys them out, but it’s likely far to late for that at this point as they are loosing (or have already lost) all of their retail locations.

I just saw on the news this morning that yes all Tullys have closed their doors due to a coffee shortage, or rather they have not paid their coffee broker for the coffee they have so they shut them off till they pay their bill. This was ch 7 news. And yes they think the attorney for Stormy Daniels still owns the company but they could not confirm this.

It does not make them bad…. But don’t forget that Howey sold the Sonics to Clay Bennett know full well he was going to move them out of state,; without offering the Sonics to a local buying group. That does not make up for anything good Starbucks does

The Tully’s at Virginia Mason Hospital closed this past Tuesday. We have been told that Tully’s will not reopen and that they are now seeking a new vendor for the location. Also heard that the Tully’s at Boeing has also closed. The baristas at my location were given one day notice and told that they would remain open as long as they had supplies. They closed at end of business on Tuesday.

Please–NOT–another pizza or Asian place. Something different. Now that Kokoros is gone, how about affordable and quick Greek or Mediterranean or casual Mexican (something in-between Taco Time and Cactus). Would love something East European (Little Prague, are you listening?). I want piroshki, pelmeni, stuffed cabbage, etc.

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